Global Work from Home Day Date in the current year: April 10, 2024

Work from home, also known as remote work, has been around since the 1970s, when technology that made working from home possible began to emerge. Jack Nilles coined the terms “telework” and “telecommuting” to describe working from home in 1973. However, the practice remained largely uncommon throughout the next couple of decades.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, internet access became more ubiquitous and new technologies facilitating remote work became available, making the practice of working from home more widespread. However, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that really brought remote work into the mainstream: millions of workers around the globe had no other choice but to work from home.

Since 2022, the number of people working from home full-time has decreased to roughly pre-pandemic levels, but many employers have become more flexible in regards to allowing employees to work from home and offering a hybrid work schedule that enables employees to split their time between coming to the office and working remotely. In fact, the hybrid work model is now used by many companies as an employee incentive.

Interestingly enough, Global Work from Home Day has existed since pre-COVID times. It was launched by Remote-how, a professional services marketplace that offers virtual training services for hybrid and remote companies. The company was founded in 2017 and launched Global Work from Home Day in 2019 to recognize and celebrate the growing trend of remote work.

On the occasion of the first Global Work from Home Day, Remote-how brought together companies working in remote-first or remote-only setups to create Everything You Need to Know About Working from Home, a free e-book that offers tip on organizing a home office, staying productive and motivated, fighting procrastination, collaborating with coworkers who also work remotely, and much more.

How can you get involved with Global Work from Home Day? If you’re in a managerial position and have the power to make such decisions, consider giving your employees the opportunity to work from home at least from time to time, of course, if their work can be done remotely and remote work is allowed by your company’s policies.

If you’re an employee, spend the day working from home (or improving your home office setup if Global Work from Home Day falls on your day off). And don’t forget to share your remote work life hacks and experiences on social media with the hashtag #GlobalWorkFromHomeDay to spread the word about the holiday, encourage others to join the celebration, connect with other casual or full-time remote workers, and advocate for working from home.

Global Work from Home Day should not be confused with National Work from Home Day. Both holidays celebrate remote work, but the latter is observed across the United States on the last Thursday of June.